A farmer in Co Wexford said his stomach was turned when he discovered a huge amount of household waste and rubbish dumped on his outfarm.

“It’s just disgusting,” said Michael Doran, a tillage farmer speaking on RTE’s Countrywide.

In the aftermath of the Christmas period, Michael’s farm was targeted on two separate occasions with bags of rubbish, mattresses, old clothes, children’s toys and household appliances among the items dumped.

With the items there for a number of days, decay had set in and Michael was greeted by the smell of rot and the sight of dead rats surrounding the rubbish.

There was a huge volume of rubbish dumped on the farm ranging from TVs to toys. \ Countrywide

Isolated

The people responsible for the illegal dumping managed to open a locked gate to access the farm, which is down an isolated laneway 300m from the nearest public road. With the volume of rubbish dumped, it is likely a trailer was used to transport the waste.

Michael’s first reaction on discovering the mounds of rubbish was to report it to gardaí.

“They said when I didn’t have CCTV there was very little that they could do for me and they put me in touch with the environmental section in Wexford County Council.”

When the council came to view the site they said as it was on private property accessed through a lane it was not their responsibility and there was nothing they could do. As a good will gesture, they said if it the rubbish was loaded and brought to a dump then it would be disposed of for free.

The outfarm is set 300m from the nearest public road and was accessable only after opening a locked gate. \ Countrywide

CCTV

Michael will now be left responsible for the removal of the waste and said he intends to put CCTV on the entrance to prevent it from happening again. It is also his intention to search the bags in an effort to identify those responsible.

“It’s not nice but I know this is not something that is unique to this place. It’s happening all over the country. There needs to be a better response or a better support available to people affected by it.

“We have to find mechanisms to deal with it and to try and prosecute people that are responsible for it and try and actually stop it,” Michael said.

Rubbish dumped illegally on the farm of Michael Doran. \ Countrywide

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